Abstract
M.A.
School leavers are faced with the need to study further in an attempt to increase their chances of finding employment. However, school leavers are rarely equipped with all
of the necessary skills, information and self-knowledge necessary to make the "right"
career decision and study-path choice. The cost of tertiary education is high, and a
school leaver who makes an unsuitable study-path selection could be trapped in an
unsuitable career for life or drop out of the tertiary education sector due to boredom
or failure. This further decreases their chance of finding employment.
It is against this background that this study was conducted. In an attempt to assist
potential students applying to the largest private education provider in South Africa
with their choice of study-path, a career-counselling workshop was offered which
included psychometric testing.
Essentially this study had two main objectives. The first was to validate the suitability
of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Self-Directed Search as careercounselling
tools in a South African tertiary environment. The second objective was
to quantitatively assess the suitability of the career guidance workshop designed to
assist school leavers to make the most suitable choice of a field of study, subjects
and a career.
The results of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Self-Directed Search were
compared using straightforward Pearson's product-moment correlations and an
interbattery correlation. The results indicated the need to continue to use both of the
instruments simultaneously, as they appeared to be measuring different underlying
constructs. In addition, each instruments was able to supplement the information
provided by the other, which allowed the career counsellor to give the students
additional information to assist them with their studies and their lives.
The research around the career-counselling workshop involved the use of the
developmental research design methodology. which stipulated the appropriate
methodological procedures to follow. The workshop was developed utilising an
understanding of career-counselling theories and practices, as well as an
understanding of the various Myers-Briggs types and Holland types (as determined
understanding of the various Myers-Briggs types and Holland types (as determined
by the Self-Directed Search) that would attend the workshops. The workshop was,
therefore, designed to appeal to a wide audience, and to give as many different
"types" of students the experience which they required to make an informed and
realistic course, subject and career choice.
The success of the workshop was evaluated by means of a questionnaire completed
by the students, a comparison of the failure rates of students who attended the
workshop and those who did not attend it, and an analysis of the pass/fail statistics
between those who attended the workshop and those who did not. The findings of
this study indicated that the workshop was well received by the students and that it
had sufficient internal and face validity for use with this group of school leavers.
The research group was a convenience sample that consisted of 73 students who
had applied to the largest South African private education provider. These students
were from four major campuses in South Africa, they had very different academic
and cultural backgrounds and they were interested in different academic fields of
study. The one similarity was that all of the courses offered by this private education
provider are business-orientated, and only students who were interested in business
studies would apply.
This study established the validity of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Self-
Directed Search in a career-counselling context. The validity of the careercounselling
workshop was also established. As this research group cannot be said
to be representative of the general population, it is not possible to generalise these
findings beyond this group. However, as the results do match those found in other
similar international studies, it could be deduced that if this study were repeated with
a representative sample the results would be replicated.